These are two Browning .30 calibre machine guns from the collection. It shows in the photographs the restoration and before and after "re-blueing" (the final finish applied to the one weapon). The other is "Parkerised" (a greyish finish from the factory). During WW2 they were made by many different industries i.e this one is engraved "Man'fd by Saginaw Steering Gear Division. General Motors Corporation." and is engraved "M1919A4" (Model).

The one under restoration with re-barrelling and re-blueing is from our Daimler Ferret Armoured Scout Car as previously posted:

The last photo shows a dummy mock up Browning in the Ferret's turret mount that is being fettled ready for final refit to the vehicle. The Vehicle also has a tripod for the Browning, fixed to the engine bay armoured lid, so the MG can be demounted from the Scout Car.

The USA Browning .30-06 Cal was originally fitted to the Daimler Ferret on vehicle first issue because there were many left in the British Army's hands after WW2. So it was not unusual to find a 1940's MG fitted in a 1960's Armoured Vehicle, as in our case! In the mid 60's many .30-06 Cals were rebarrelled and rechambered for 7.62 Nato calibre before the Brownings were finally replaced with the British GPMG (7.62 Nato), which is still in service to this day. When the heavy metal floor plates in the Daimler Ferret were taken up during our full restoration; many, many .30-06 Cal brass cases (dated 1968) were found underneath where they had worked their way on firing, into chinks and access holes in the floor! In fact; one of the vehicle control rods was jamming and playing up...it was found to be a bent and crushed .30-06 brass case jammed in a control rod joint!!!!

History:

The M1919 Browning is a .30 caliber medium machine gun that was widely used during the 20th century. It was used as a light infantry, coaxial, mounted, aircraft, and anti-aircraft machine gun by the U.S. and many other countries, especially during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Although it began to be superseded by newer designs in the later half of the century (such as by the M60 machine gun), it remained in use in many North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries such as UK, and elsewhere for much longer. It is very similar in design to the larger .50 in (12.7 mm) M2 Machine Gun, which is also a Browning-designed weapon and is still in NATO service.

Many M1919s were rechambered for the new 7.62×51 mm NATO round and served into the 1990s, as well as up to the present day in some countries. The United States Navy also converted many to 7.62 mm NATO, and designated them Mk 21 Mod 0; they were commonly used on river craft in the 1960s and 1970s in Vietnam.

The M1919 was an air-cooled development of the standard US machine gun of World War I, the Browning M1917, as designed by John M. Browning.

Hems303, 2 years agozguy2112..see the previous post...it IS mounted on our car....lol

blunderbuss2, 2 years agoI had 1 of these in the '60's. Brand new in the wooden arsenal crate. (friend at the ord. depot). It had the pistol grip & trigger like yours. Almost all research I have done shows the double grip with the "butterfly" trigger. Is the pistol grip model harder to find? Never fired that one either & don't ask(hell, it was unfired).
If memory serves me right, that was the cloth belt. I didn't get any belts with that 1 so can't swear to it.

zguy2112, 2 years agoHems303, No....you need to mount this on your everyday vehicle! not the military vehicle.

Hems303, 2 years agoAhhhh...see what you mean zguy, but, and thanks for the suggestion, BUT; I don't think I would get far down the road in my everyday car with this mounted before the Police A.R.T decided my day was joing to change it course. If you see what I mean! LOL

All joking aside, there are very strict rules in UK, when we make a road run we have to have an obscuring canvas cover over the barrel. When the Ferret is stopped and unattended; the turret has to be padlocked x2 (you can see that in one of the pictures in the other post)..... AND even then the Browning has to be securely locked to it's mount to prevent unauthorised removal!

Hems303, 2 years agoRe: blunderbuss2's question about the double grip MG presentation / specification: I spoke to Keith and we are almost sure that the double grip is the bigger brother i.e the .50 Calibre Browning MG.

Hems303, 2 years agoThanks to officialfuel, blunderbuss2, ttomtucker and pw-collector for the "love it's"

Hems303, 2 years agoI have just updated the manufacturers information in the description above.

blunderbuss2, 2 years agoHow do you find time to post so much on CW with all these bloody projects?
At 16-17 yrs old I was in military school & got stuck carrying one of these on a 10 mile field maneuver & it almost killed me. There is no comfortable way to carry one! I got back with raw shoulders, red chest & arms that are still 2"s longer than they should be. Carrying the tri-pod & ammo boxes wasn't much better as I found out later. "War is hell".

Hems303, 2 years agoOUCH!.........sounds like torture not training!!! :(

How do I find time between my restoration projects and my artwork & painting commitments??? ......I don't sleep!
Talking of which...it is now 02:55 Hrs and I'm off to bed...Goodnight!

NicksCrustyStuff, 2 years agoLove the Brownings! A friend of mine has 2 of the Browning .30-06, one on tripod stand & one without.
Thanks for posting!

Hems303, 2 years agoNicksCrustyStuff: Cheers! Yes we have two of these beasts as well, one on the Ferret and the other a side pintle mounted on a 1942 Willys Jeep. The Ferret one is mounted in the turret but the Ferret carries the standard tripod (WW2 stamped) clamped to the engine compartment armoured lid, ready for it to be demounted and remounted on tripod in the case of the Scout Car being lost-in-action! They thought of everything!

Hems303, 2 years agoGo see blunderbuss2's excellent "gun" book post including the Browning MG: